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d abbreviation for died, no full point, eg, d 1997. Likewise b for born: b 1906

dad and mum l/c in general context; reserve caps for when it is clear that that is/was the family name in use. Thus "I told my mum I would be late home" but "I told Mum I would be late home"

Dafydd is the correct spelling of the Welsh name. Daffyd Thomas, of Little Britain, is (perhaps consciously) a variant the Welsh are most unlikely to accept

Dagestan (not Daghestan)

Dáil Éireann (accents) the lower house of the Irish parliament; usually just the Dáil. See Ireland , Irish

Dakar capital of Senegal, cf Dhaka

dal prefer to dhal etc for a curry made from lentils or other pulses

Dales, the Yorkshire (cap); or just the Dales

Dalits synonym for "Untouchables"

dam cap when specific, eg, Aswan Dam, Hoover Dam, Pergau Dam, Three Gorges Dam etc

dance See Arts special section

dancefloor

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (no hyphens). Note, capital is Dodoma

Darling, Alistair take care with variants of this first name

Dark Ages caps, but take care; the period after the fall of the Roman Empire is no longer considered wholly obscure and barbaric

Dark Side of the Moon, The include the definite article in the Pink Floyd album of 1973

Darwin, Charles write the title of his great work as On the Origin of Species (usually omitting the words by Means of Natural Selection)

Darzi, Professor Ara in all formal contexts write Lord Darzi of Denham, then Lord Darzi subsequently

dashes while - on occasion - an effective device, they can quickly - and frequently - become ugly and tiresome. As a rule of thumb, one pair per 500 words is enough. See punctuation

data strictly plural, but can now be used in singular through common usage

databank, database

date line two words as shorthand for the International Date Line

date rape beware of this phrase; in most cases "drug rape" is the intended meaning; beware description of drugs such as Rohypnol

dates Monday, April 18, 1994 (never 18th April); but April 1994. When citing periods of years, say 1992-93 (not 1992-3); for the new millennium, write 1999-2000, then 2000-01, 2003-09 etc; from 1939 to 1941 (not from 1939-41); the Forties, Eighties, Nineties (or 1940s, 1980s, 1990s) - (but with people's ages, l/c, as in “she was in her forties, eighties, nineties” etc). Common usage says that the century ended on December 31, 1999. See millennium

Davis, David the Conservative who quit as Shadow Home Secretary in 2008 to force a by-election on civil liberties issues. See Bec School

da Vinci, Leonardo see Leonardo da Vinci; but note The Da Vinci Code for the book and the film

Day 1 cap and figure, as in "it's been happening since Day 1"

DayGlo caps, no longer hyphen, proprietary

days/months if abbreviated, and only in listings etc, not in general body copy, use: Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun; Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

daytime, but night-time

day trader, day trading (no need to hyphenate)

day trip, but day-tripper

D-Day was on June 6, 1944. See also VE-Day, VJ-Day

deaf and dumb avoid this phrase, which is nowadays deemed offensive. Likewise, avoid deaf mute. The best alternative to either phrase is "profoundly deaf"

deafblind (no hyphen) unable to hear or see

Dean, Howard the former Governor of Vermont is Dr Dean subsequently. He has a medical degree

deathbed no hyphen, one word, as sickbed

death row (as in American prisons), l/c; hyphen as adjective, death-row campaigner

debacle (accents unnecessary)

debatable

Debrett, or full title Debrett's Peerage

debut (no accent) is most widely understood as a noun; avoid using it as a verb, and write, eg, "He made his debut ... "

decades use either the Sixties or the 1960s. See dates

de Chastelain, General John (l/c de)

decimals do not mix decimals and fractions in the same story. See metric, millions, per cent

decimate literally means to kill one in ten; custom has extended its use to indicate heavy casualties, but use sparingly

deckchair, as armchair (no hyphens)

decor (no accent)

decorations See honours

debatable prefer to debateable

de facto roman

defaecate

defuse means to remove the fuse from, or reduce tension in an emergency etc; never confuse with diffuse, which means to spread in all directions, scatter etc, or (as adjective) verbose, not concise, spread over a large area etc

Degas no accent

de Gaulle never cap de in this name unless at the start of a sentence or headline

degrees (educational) a bachelor's, a master's, a first, a second, an upper second (a 2:1), a lower second (a 2:2), a third etc. Abbreviations as follows: doctorates of literature (or letters), D Lit, D Litt, LitD etc; Oxford and York have D Phil instead of the more usual PhD. Oxford has DM for the more usual MD. Cambridge has ScD for doctor of science. No full points in degrees

degrees (weather) omit degree sign in temperatures. See celsius

de Havilland for the aircraft manufacturer and the actress Olivia

de Klerk, F.W. See full points

déjà vu (accents but not italic)

de la Mare, Walter

Delanoë, Bertrand diaeresis on the surname of the Mayor of Paris

De La Rue

deliver, delivery perfect for babies, newspapers, milk on the doorstep, but beware meaningless overuse in politician and management-speak, eg, "The key indicators of delivery are moving in the right direction". The word has become a cliché, so always try to think of an alternative; eg, promises are kept, policies are implemented, public services are provided, improvements are made

Deloitte the rebranded name. Except in historical contexts, eg, when accounts have been signed by Deloitte & Touche, simply use Deloitte and not, eg, Deloittes, Deloitte Consulting etc. (Deloitte & Touche LLP is the legal entity through which Deloitte now provides service in the UK, and to which its UK partners belong; Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is the Swiss Verein (association) to which each individual member firm belongs)

DeLorean

demise strictly means the death of a person, or the failure of an enterprise or institution. Keep to these definitions. It is wrong to refer to the demise of Glenn Hoddle or, on several occasions, Peter Mandelson

Democratic Party (US), not Democrat Party. Democratic is normally the preferable adjective to Democrat; note the Democratic convention

demonstration never shorten to demo except in direct quotes

demonstrator, but see protester

Deng, Wendi Rupert Murdoch's wife. See Murdoch, Rupert

De Niro, Robert

Denktas, Rauf (not Denktash), the former president (l/c) of northern Cyprus (l/c because not an internationally recognised state). His successor, from 2005, as the Turkish Cypriot leader is Mehmet Ali Talat (Mr Talat at second mention). See Cyprus

denouement no accent

deny does not mean the same as rebut (which means argue to the contrary, producing evidence), or refute (which means to win such an argument). See rebut, refute

departments of state and government offices

Attorney-General's Office

Cabinet Office

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (formerly Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills);

note also Export Credits Guarantee Department

Department for Children, Schools and Families

Department for Communities and Local Government

Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (not the Environment; Defra)

Department for International Development (DfID)

Department for Transport (DfT)

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

Department of Energy and Climate Change

Department of Health (DH)

Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), qv

Government Equalities Office

Her Majesty's Treasury (the Treasury)

Home Office

Ministry of Defence (MoD)

Ministry of Justice

Northern Ireland Office (NIO)

Prime Minister's Office

Privy Council Office

Scotland Office

Wales Office

Historically, note under new Labour: Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA); Department for Education and Skills (DfES); Department of Trade and Industry (DTI); Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DfT); Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). See ministers, Politics special section

Depression, the cap for the 1930s economic slump

Deputy Prime Minister (caps); similarly, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. But these are the exceptions to the rule that deputy posts should normally take the l/c, eg, deputy editor

de rigueur roman; not de rigeur

de Sancha, Antonia former friend of David Mellor, the politician and Chelsea supporter

descendant not to be confused with an ancestor!

desiccate

desktop (computer, publishing), no hyphen. See laptop

despite perfectly acceptable, and virtuously shorter, alternative to in spite of. But do not say “despite the fact that”; use although instead

despoiled (not despoilt)

despoliation or despoilment (not despoilation)

détente accent

deutschemark/deutschmark prefer not to use either form, nor D-mark. Use simply the mark, or with figures, DM500 (all now in historic contexts). See currencies

Deutsche Bank German commercial bank not to be confused with Deutsche Bundesbank, or Bundesbank, the German central bank

de Valera, Éamon

Devil, the (cap); but devils (many, l/c), devilish

Devon write North Devon, South Devon (caps) for these distinct geographical and postal areas. See counties , Newton Abbot

dextrous prefer to dexterous

Dexy's Midnight Runners despite much evidence to the contrary, please use the apostrophe

Dhaka (not Dacca), capital of Bangladesh; cf Dakar

diabetes: type 1, type 2 etc, no cap, no hyphen

Diaghilev

diagnose take great care: illnesses are diagnosed, patients are not. Thus, do not write, eg, "He was diagnosed with cancer"; rather, "He had cancer diagnosed" etc

Diana, Princess of Wales, at first mention; subsequently the Princess (cap, as she remained a member of the Royal Family until her death). Never write Princess Diana or - even worse - Princess Di or Lady Di (except in reported speech). Say the late Princess where appropriate. Note the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund (one comma only).

See Royal Family , Titles special section

Diaspora cap in Jewish context, but l/c in general sense of a dispersal

Di Canio, Paolo (cap Di every time); likewise for other Italian names

DiCaprio, Leonardo

dice use as both singular and plural except in historic contexts, eg, "the die is cast"

Dickins & Jones (department store)

Dickson Wright, Clarissa TV cook, no hyphen; appeared on Two Fat Ladies with Jennifer Paterson (d 1999)

Dictaphone is a trade name and must be capped

Diddy for legal reasons, always write P. Diddy (full point) for the producer and rapper Sean Combs

die prefer to write "to die of, eg, cancer" rather than "to die from ... "

diehard no hyphen

dietitian prefer to dietician

different from, and never different to or than; likewise, differ from

dignitaries

diktat

dilapidated (not delapidated)

dilate dilation means normal widening, as in pupils of the eye; dilatation is widening by force, as in child abuse cases. Take care

dining room (no hyphen)

Dinky Toys cap T (trademark), but Dinky on its own can be sufficient

diocese cap in specifics, such as Diocese of Chichester or the Guildford Diocese, but l/c in general use, and l/c diocesan. See Churches special section

diphtheria, diphthong (note “ph”)

Diplock court a non-jury court in Northern Ireland to try terrorist cases

Diplomatic Service (caps, as Civil Service)

directives (in EU) l/c in general context, caps when specific, eg, Working Time Directive

Direct Line and Direct Line Insurance are trademarks and must not be used in a generic sense even with l/c, as in direct line companies, direct line telephone insurers etc; in this wider sense, say direct insurance, direct telephone insurance etc

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)

Director-General of the BBC, CBI, Institute of Directors, Fair Trading, and the regulatory bodies etc. See regulators , Secretary-General

Directory Enquiries (despite usual style, inquiries)

disc (musical, recording, or shape, eg, disc jockey, compact disc, disc brake); but disk in strict computing context, eg, disk drive, floppy disk. When, eg, government data is lost on what is a CD, write disc

discernible (not -able)

discomfit take great care with this verb; it means primarily to thwart, defeat or rout, but by extension can mean thoroughly to embarrass or disconcert (noun discomfiture). It has no connection with discomfort, which means to deprive of comfort or make uneasy

discreet means tactful, circumspect (noun discretion); discrete means individually distinct (noun discreteness)

disinterested means impartial, unbiased (noun disinterest); never confuse with uninterested, which means having a lack of interest.

As an example of misuse, there is this reported in Hansard, spoken by Gordon Brown at Prime Minister's Questions on February 11, 2009: "My hon. Friend is absolutely right; there is a growing low-carbon environmental sector in this country that we need to support. It is worth about £100 billion and employs about 800,000 people, and we will do what we can to support it, even if the Conservative Party seems to have a huge disinterest in the environment now."

Disney the theme parks are Disneyland (California); Disney World (Florida); Disneyland Paris (Euro Disney should strictly be confined to the name of the European company); and Tokyo Disneyland (owned by a Japanese company, but Disney earns royalties from it)

disorientate (not disorient). See orientate

dispatch (not despatch), including dispatch box

dissociate (not disassociate)

distil, distilled, distillation

divorcé, man; divorcée, woman; use divorcees (no accent) in reference to both men and women

Diwali the Hindu festival of lights

DIY spell out do-it-yourself at first mention

D-notice, D-notice committee

Dobermann breed of dog; more fully, Dobermann pinscher

Docklands in London, docklands elsewhere

doctor do not confine the title Dr to medical practitioners. If a person has a doctorate from a reputable institution, and wishes to be known as Dr Smith, he or she should be so titled. See appellations

Doctor Who the television time traveller. Roman for the character (subsequent mentions, the Doctor), but italics for the programme

docusoap, docudrama etc (no hyphens)

dogfight, as bullfight, cockfight etc

dogs l/c with most breeds, such as alsatian, borzoi, labrador, rottweiler, though there are obvious exceptions such as Great Dane, West Highland terrier, Yorkshire terrier, Jack Russell etc.

See pekinese

Dogs Trust the name from the autumn of 2003 for what was the National Canine Defence League

Doha Round of world trade negotiations (as Uruguay Round)

Doherty, Peter was Pete before March 2009 and the release of Grace/Wastelands

Dole, Bob (not Robert) the US politician

dollars with figures use $5 (when American), A$5 (Australian), C$5 (Canadian), S$5 (Singapore) and so on. See currencies

doll's house (not dolls')

Dolly the sheep (l/c s)

Dome cap "D" in Millennium Dome and when used on its own, whether as noun or adjective. See millennium

Domesday Book (roman, like Magna Carta), but doomsday in general or biblical sense

dominatrix plural dominatrices. See Mosley, Max

Dominican Republic, neighbour to Haiti on the island of Hispaniola, while

Dominica is one of the Windward Islands. Both are sovereign states. See Haiti

donate use give or present wherever possible

doppelgänger ghostly duplicate of a living person. Note l/c and rom, Anglicised version of German Doppelgänger

Doran, Seán former artistic director of English National Opera (ENO), spells his name with an accent

Dorchester, the (not Dorchester Hotel)

do's and don'ts

Dostoevsky

dot-com use hyphen for colloquial reference to internet companies, eg, the dot-com bubble

-dóttir accent on the Icelandic female surname suffix. See Iceland

double bass the instrument

dovish not doveish

down avoid unnecessary use after verbs, as in close down, shut down. See up

Downing Street write 10 Downing Street (or 11...), or simply No 10; note Downing Street policy unit. See Politics special section, units

Downing Street declaration See Ireland

downmarket (no hyphen), as upmarket

downplay prefer play down

Down's syndrome never say mongol

downtown a North American term, and also now somewhat Antipodean as well, for the central or lower part of a city, especially the main commercial area. Do not use inappropriately, except for deliberate comic effect. The phrase downtown Manhattan is meaningful, given the geography and culture, but downtown London and downtown Baghdad, for example, are not

Down Under cap as a colloquialism for Australasia (especially Australia)

D'Oyly Carte

drachmas, not drachmae (now historical contexts)

draconian (l/c)

draftsman (legal), but draughtsman (art, design)

drama, dramatic confine their use to the theatrical context wherever possible; dramatic events and the like are among the tiredest clichés in the language

Dr Dolittle (italics for the film, roman for the character)

dreadnought

dreamt, not dreamed

drier is the comparative of dry; dryer is the noun, as in tumble dryer

drily prefer to dryly

drink-drive, drink-driver, drink-driving. Note that the limits are 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath; and 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood

drivers no hyphens in taxi driver, bus driver, car driver etc

drop a bombshell never in The Times

dropout (noun or adjective - as in students);

drop-out (rugby); and to drop out (verb)

drug dealer, drug dealing, drug smuggler, drug smuggling, drug taking no hyphens as nouns; but hyphenate adjectives, eg, a drug-dealing cartel, a drug-smuggling gang

drug names cap trade name, eg, Valium; l/c generic name, eg, diazepam

drugs do not confuse narcotics (which include cocaine and heroin) with other illicit drugs such as cannabis, LSD and amphetamines. See narcotics

Drug Enforcement Administration (US), thereafter DEA

Druid(s) (cap)

Druze (in Lebanon)

dry-clean, dry-cleaning etc

drystone wall

dual (of two, eg, dual carriageway); duel (fight)

dual nationals avoid this officialspeak for people with dual nationality

du Cann, Sir Edward

Duchess of York she ceased to be a member of the Royal Family upon her divorce in 1996. After her first mention as Duchess of York, refer to the duchess (l/c) subsequently - not “Fergie” or a construction overheard once being used by an American teenage tourist, "the Princess Ferguson", or any other vulgarity. See Titles special section

duct tape two words

due to must not be used as the equivalent of because of or owing to. The phrase must be attached to a noun or pronoun: “His absence was due to illness” is correct; “He was absent due to illness” is wrong

duffel bag, duffel coat

Duke of Edinburgh say the Duke (cap) or Prince Philip after first mention; but this cap rule applies only to the British Royal Family and overseas heads of state, so the Duke of Rutland would become the duke (l/c) after first mention. See Royal Family, heads of state, Titles special section

Dumbarton for the town but Dunbartonshire for the county and Dunbartonshire East, Dunbartonshire West for the parliamentary seats

dump do not use as synonym of dismiss or sack

Durham say Co Durham for the county and (if any question of ambiguity) Durham city for the city. See counties

Düsseldorf umlaut

duty-free (hyphenated, noun or adjective)

DVLA, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (not Authority)

dwarf as plural, prefer dwarfs (not dwarves); avoid “politically correct” circumlocutions such as “person of restricted growth”

dyke (embankment), not dike

dysentery (not dysentry or disentery)

dyspepsia

Last edited: July 6, 2009